TVSquad

I've never noticed how often the hosts at CNN - almost all of them - say the phrase "we'll have to leave it there" when they run out of time when interviewing a guest. But The Daily Show noticed it, and last night they were all over CNN about it.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
CNN Leaves It There
www.thedailyshow.com

[Watch episodes and clips of The Daily Show and other shows at SlashControl.]

I get antsy watching CNN's Tony Harris do the news. He always has these uncomfortable hiccups in his delivery and he's always looking off camera, as if the next word in the sentence is floating in the air next to him or on the table and he has to look to see what it is so he can continue.

But I find this funny: Harris is on Facebook, but he told CNN viewers yesterday that he has no idea how to log on to it and finds the whole thing "stalkerish." I'm looking for the video and will post it here if I can find it.

I can't tell you exactly what I'll be doing every weekday at 3pm starting September 8, but I do know one thing: I won't be watching CNN anymore.

New CNN Director of Programming Scott Matthews sent out an e-mail to the entire staff earlier this week outlining the on-air changes that will start on that day. Heidi Collins will anchor solo from 9am to 11am, then Tony "I Always Look Over To The Side For Some Reason" Harris takes over solo from 11am to 1pm, then Kyra Phillips (she's great!) does the 1pm to 3pm slot, and then...drumroll please...Rick Sanchez takes over from 3pm to 4pm. I've talked about my aversion to Sanchez before, but I guess the people at CNN just don't see what viewers see. I suppose we should be thankful that he's only doing a one hour shift and not the two hours that the others are doing. I guess I can switch to something else between 3 and 4.

Where is Don Lemon in all of this? He won't be anchoring on the weekdays anymore. He's taking over the CNN Newsroom gig on the weekends and will become a correspondent the rest of the week.

Doing the news can't be easy. It's a lot more than just reading the teleprompter, especially when you do it live. The really good anchors make it look easy and the merely competent ones make it look hard (but you feel for them). It's the really bad ones that make you cringe and throw something at the TV (or change the channel). Not only are they incompetent when it comes to skills, they have an off-putting air about them. At best they are anchors who should be reporters and not sit in an anchor chair.

I've picked the three very worst ones I can find on TV right now. And just so we're clear, I'm talking about news people who read the news or anchor. So you won't see show hosts like Nancy Grace or Bill O'Reilly here. And I'm concentrating on national anchors, not local ones. There's not enough space on the web to do one on local anchors. Though I'd love to do one on Boston anchors some day.

1. Rick Sanchez (CNN): Do I really have to explain why he's #1? OK...